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Investigation of flow characteristics and eddy viscosity ratio for air-oil intermittent flow in horizontal pipe

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Abstract

Experiments and three-dimensional numerical computations are performed to investigate the air-oil intermittent two-phase flow in a horizontal pipe for different air and oil flow rates. The numerical predictions of pressure drop and flow structure are compared with the experimental results to validate the numerical model. At a higher airflow rate, regardless of the oil flow rate, a mixing vortex formed by the velocity difference between the liquid film and liquid slug causes smaller bubbles to detach from the elongated bubble and disperse into the flow. The eddy viscosity ratio in the elongated bubble unit, which is challenging to measure by the experimental method, is numerically calculated to infer the mixing vortex and verify interfacial turbulence dampening in the air-oil intermittent flow regime. Due to surface tension, the eddy viscosity ratio is completely suppressed at the air-oil interface signifying the interfacial turbulence dampening in the air-oil intermittent flow regime.

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Abbreviations

g :

Acceleration due to gravity (m/s2)

j :

Superficial velocity (m/s)

P :

Pressure (Pa)

t :

Time (s)

U :

Velocity (m/s)

α :

Void fraction

μ :

Mixture dynamic viscosity (kg/m-s)

ρ :

Mixture density (kg/m3)

n :

Phase of fluid

t :

Turbulence

1:

Air

2:

Oil

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement (KAIA) grant funded by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Grant 1615009756), and by the Technology Innovation Program (20013794, Center for Composite Materials and Concurrent Design) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE, Korea).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, 300 Cheoncheon-dong, Suwon, 16419, Korea

    Santhosh Senguttuvan, Jun-Suk Youn & Sung-Min Kim

  2. Flow and Thermal Simulation Cell, Hyundai Mobis, Yongin, 16891, Korea

    Hyeon-Seok Seo

Authors
  1. Santhosh Senguttuvan
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  2. Jun-Suk Youn
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  3. Hyeon-Seok Seo
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  4. Sung-Min Kim
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hyeon-Seok Seo or Sung-Min Kim.

Additional information

Santhosh Senguttuvan is currently pursuing his doctoral studies at Sungkyunkwan University, Korea. He received his M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Andong National University, Korea, in 2019. His research interests include two-phase flow and heat transfer, and high-heat-flux and high performance heat transfer system.

Jun-Suk Youn is a researcher at R&D Center of Wonik Holdings Co., Ltd. He received his M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, in 2020. His research interests include two-phase flow and heat transfer, and thermal fluid science.

Hyeon-Seok Seo is a Principal Researcher at Flow and Thermal Simulation Cell of Hyundai Mobis. He received his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, in 2015. His research interests include thermal fluid science and fluid machinery.

Sung-Min Kim is an Associate Professor at Sungkyunkwan University. He received his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University, USA, in 2012. His research interests include two-phase flow and heat transfer, high-heat-flux and high-efficiency heat transfer system, flow control, and high-performance fluid machinery.

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Senguttuvan, S., Youn, JS., Seo, HS. et al. Investigation of flow characteristics and eddy viscosity ratio for air-oil intermittent flow in horizontal pipe. J Mech Sci Technol 35, 4557–4564 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-021-0925-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-021-0925-1

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